He really is a boy

Nephi loves to put things on his head...hats, headbands, whatever he can find!! So, when he put this pink, sparkly headband on, I couldn't resist a picture. I am thinking that this picture will come in handy when he gets older as blackmail!! Maybe I just have a mean streak....nah - I'm just a mom!!!

More on the 4th

After the parade, we headed over to swim at Grandma and Grandpa Morgan's house. Following that we went home for naps and then headed back to G'ma and G'pa's for more fun. David met us there when he got off work and we had a yummy BBQ and then started the fireworks!!

The greatest picture that I got is this one of Helaman. You can see him through Grandpa....the only thing that I can think of is that it has to do with the shutter speed of the camera...I had it set to portrait at night. Pretty cool......or pretty creepy...depending on what you think!!!

4th of July

Our 4th started out with a pancake breakfast and parade! Our stake did a combo 4th / pioneer party. It was fun. The kids wore their matching Yosemite shirts and all looked great!! The parade was a hit. I was impressed with how many people were there. It was a really good event! We look forward to next year's parade and we will make sure that we decorate our modes of transportation appropriately.

Happy 6th Birthday Vilate!!!

Vilate's 6th birthday came and went (June 22nd) with a big mess!! She was really interested in getting her own cake. She wanted a pink cake...pink? I know Vilate has been far from pink FOREVER. Red was her color of choice, but she has decided that pink is agood color for her! So, I made her her own cake that she could dig her face into...she thought it was cool that Nephi got to do that and now it is the request of every kid around here.

Another tradition that we started year before last is that Vilate gets a watermelon on her birthday. She loves watermelon and it is the season, so she was thrilled to eat her own watermelon. For some reason she is into eating with out hands...kinda weird. She does it to be funny...and of course we all laugh! How could we not?!?!

So then, two days later we had a birthday party for her. We had a water/ice cream party here at the apartment complex. We had some kid pools out, water balloons and lots of ice cream. My plans were a little upstaged by the little frogs jumping around. Literally, I mean frogs. The kids were having a marvelous time catching little frogs. I think that they caught at least 100 of them, probably more. The frogs were a hit!!

We ended up having about 35 kids ranging in age from 1 year old to 14 years old. The picture here is all the kids patiently waiting for the pinata. Pinatas are my kids' favorite part of a party, but it is David's least favorite. Too many chances for kids getting hurt!! So, David is very good at getting the kids to follow his rules and the kids did a great job following directions.

Vilate had a great time and loved all her gifts!! Happy birthday sweet girl!! We love you bunches!

Nephi's 1!!!!!!!!!

His birthday was on June 12th. Nephi loved his cupcake...you can tell by the lovely chocolate face!! We took him swimming at my parents' house. His favorite thing to do is drink the water off the ground. We kept trying to give him a cup, but he liked the chlorinated water mixed with cement better.


Nephi fell and skinned his little face as a great finish to his birthday. He seems to be the least balanced of all the kids at this point. I think that he has fallen the most. Generally he doesn't have any marks, but this day, we were lucky and ended up with war wounds!! Poor guy!!!

Yosemite

Okay...so I am a little behind on my blogging...and everything else in my life!!

We went to Yosemite the last weekend in May with the Cox family. It is a family tradition. They have gone every year since David was a boy. This year we had a small group. There were Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Tami & Uncle Brent and their 2 boys (Jake and Danny), Aunt Joanne & Uncle Mark and their 3 boys (Dylan, Luke & Trygve) and then there was us.

We got there around lunchtime on Thursday and Vilate spent the first few minutes or was it hours in the car terrified because there were squirrels everywhere! After she got out of the car, she sat on this rock for the next four days whenever there were squirrels, pretty much the whole time!!!


Hyrum had a great time watching Dylan play video games. We brought some also, but I was the mean mom and wouldn't let the kids get them out of the car...my thinking was that we drove for hours to enjoy Yosemite, not to play video games.


Most of the time, this is the view that we had of Gloria...


We went to Mirror Lake. That was the first time that I have ever been to Mirror Lake. The kids and David go every year that we go, but I always have stayed back at the campsite and taken a nap with the baby. This year...I decided to go with them all. It was beautiful. The kids enjoyed playing in the water and I enjoyed sitting in my chair watching them!!

Nephi loved the water. He didn't mind that it was FREEZING! In fact, he kept putting his face in the water and trying to eat the mud. While it was kinda gross...it was really funny!


Vilate spent the entire time we were at the lake reconfiguring the way that the water flowed past this rock. She got her brothers and cousins to help her build dams and lakes. It was really cool. They figured out that if they made the water more shallow it would warm quickly and then they could enjoy the warm water!


Isn't Faith a babe?!?!? She had a great time trying new things. She climbed a rock and then was daring enough to walk from the rock to the beach in the cold water. The water was up to her neck!!


While at the lake, Gloria ended up with a butterfly on her back. We couldn't get it to leave. I caught it and then the cousins enjoyed passing it around.


On Saturday, we took the kids to Lower Yosemite Falls and we found a great place for us to rock hop and play in the water.

On the way back, Gloria insisted on pushing Vilate in the stroller. Surprisingly she did a great job!

We went into Yosemite Village and enjoyed learning about the indians and seeing the teepees.


Well, that was it. Here is my favorite picture...Half-Dome. I love seeing that mountain. I think that I love that I climbed it once, and will NEVER do it again!!

Yosemite is beautiful and I am so greatful to the Cox Family for this tradition that I married into! The kids are already talking about next year...in fact they started talking about our next trip to Yosemite on the ride home!!